University of Texas launches e-textbook trial

Longhorns will soon be reading phosphors instead of ink as college bookstores …

College textbooks come packed with one advantage—knowledge—but are burdened with a slew of less-desirable traits. The thick books add pounds to overloaded packs, are easily outmoded with the release of a new edition, and can cost a fortune. But selling facts on dead trees may soon be a thing of the past, and the University of Texas at Austin will dip its toes in the uncharted waters of electronic textbook distribution.

UT is certainly not the first to consider e-textbooks in lieu of bound paper. Just over a week ago, the National Association of College Stores announced its foray into digital distribution. College bookstores that belong to the trade group and textbook publishers alike are hoping to avoid being whipped by the transition to digital media à la the music recording industry. Initially, the NACS plan will test digital distribution selling movies via DVD burning kiosks. Textbooks will follow, but will still have to be purchased at the kiosk, failing to alleviate the rush for course materials at the start of the semester. Students under UT's plan, though, download digital textbooks to their hard drives. About 1,000 students will participate in the trial in the next academic year, according to an article in the AustinAmerican-Statesman.

For cash-strapped students, the benefits of digital textbooks are readily apparent. Where many textbooks for math and science courses routinely top $100, the e-textbooks UT will be testing cost between $25 and $40. Students enrolled in the pilot program will receive the texts for free, but don’t expect that to last. If the trial is a success, the university will begin passing the fee on to students and will broaden the courses for which e-textbooks are available.

Still, students could save a substantial amount of money with e-textbooks. Currently, UT's financial aid website says students should expect to shell out $409 a semester for books, meaning an all-digital textbook diet could slash that number by over 75 percent. And since the expected cost for books is only an estimation, students enrolled in certain courses could stand to save even more.

Yet e-textbooks are not a perfect solution, as we've pointed out in the past. With digital files, there is no used book market, so one low-cost source of textbooks may vanish. And while the American-Statesman article doesn’t mention DRM, there will certainly be some method to prevent unfettered sharing. DRM restrictions, such as limiting printing to 10 pages per session and texts that are no longer accessible after 180 days, are features we've seen on other e-textbooks. Though the files in UT’s program do not expire, it is possible that future digital rights management implementations could impose a sunset date for certain materials.

If DRM, access, and pricing issues can be solved, e-textbooks could be the way of the future as more students carry laptops and e-book readers drop in price and increase in usability. While traditional textbooks, like CDs, will still be sold for decades to come, their ubiquity may soon be a relic of the past.